Ficlet - Gifts

[baroqueangel]

Title: Gifts
Pairing/Characters: Roy/Ed
Rating: PG
Warning: Copious amounts of fluff. Seriously, I didn’t expect the fluff.
Words: 1243
A.N: I started this a few weeks ago and had the first part done. I was expecting to sit down and write porn today to finish it off and I had every intention of doing that. The fic had other ideas. It didn’t want porn, no matter how hard I tried to move it in that direction it kept swerving towards fluffville so I followed it and ended up with this.

For nochick_fics because she is awesome and wonderful. Sorry it’s not porn love, I swear I did try but at least I’m posting fic. So stop holding Family Way hostage! XD

And of course the fucking thing works now!!! After I don't know how long of trying. LJ, you are trying my patience, you really are.

~~~~~

‘What’s this for?’ Ed took the book from Roy and looked at it with suspicion. It wasn’t his birthday or anything so why would Roy give him a present?

‘I was walking past that bookstore we like and I happened to pop in. I saw that while I was browsing the shelves and remembered that you needed it for your collection so I bought it for you. That is the book you wanted right? I didn’t pick up the wrong one?’

‘No, it’s the right book, it’s just…’ Ed was at a loss. Apart from his mother, and occasionally Al when he’d done something stupid and was trying to apologise, nobody had ever given him something just because before. It was a new experience for him and he didn’t know how to feel about it.

He held the book close and smiled. There was a warm feeling spreading through him and he didn’t know what to do about it.

‘Thanks.’

‘It was no problem, just don’t get lost in it and forget to eat or something.’

Roy knew him so well because that was exactly what he was planning to do.

~~~~

Two weeks later Ed was eyeing up more suspicious things this time in the form of tickets.

‘What are these for?’

‘If you read them you’ll find out.’

Ed looked at the writing on the tickets and he couldn’t help it when his face shifted from a suspicious frown to a look of absolute glee and awe.

‘These are like gold-dust, where did you find them?’

‘A friend of mine mentioned about a month ago that that alchemist you like was going to be giving some lectures around the area so I asked him to snag me a couple of tickets. I figured if you were interested in his work then he must be worth listening to. After all, if the prodigal Edward Elric is in awe of someone then that someone must be doing something right.’

This time Ed couldn’t even say thank you, his voice wouldn’t work. It was a sad fact that nobody outside his family had ever been this nice to him and because of that he didn’t know how to act, how to say thank you or even how to feel. First the book and now the tickets, he had to think of something nice he could do for Roy, something that showed the man exactly how much these little gestures meant to him.

For now he decided a small gesture of his own would do and he leant forward to gently kiss Roy on the cheek. Roy looked at him astonished but didn’t say anything. Instead he just smiled at Ed before carrying on with what he had been doing.

Ed really needed to think of a good thank you, something that equalled the value of Roy’s true gift to him.

~~~~~

Over the next month Ed had tried to think of something good that would show Roy how thankful he was for all the random things the other man did for him. He had even had a few good ideas, at least they had seemed like good ideas at the time.

Cooking for Roy because the man was really busy at work and had no time to cook for himself had seemed perfect. Until Ed had set off the smoke detectors by burning the steaks he’d bought as a special dinner treat. He wasn’t sure how he had managed that, he hadn’t known you could burn steak so completely.

After that he had promised Roy that he would never cook without him present again. He really thought that Roy was overreacting, it wasn’t like he’d burnt the house down or anything and the smoke damage had been pretty superficial.

Running Roy a bath had been a failure too. He’d decided that Roy needed to relax and he figured a bath was the best way to do that. He wanted it to be ready for when Roy got home from a particularly meetings heavy day so he got home early and started to fill the tub.

Only the bath took forever to fill, Ed got bored. He’d only left it for a few minutes so he could go fetch a book to read. Problem was he’d started reading the book before he got back to the bathroom, and got sidetracked, and forgot the bath was running.

It really was a good thing that Roy had arrived home when he had. The water damage was minimal, nothing a little alchemy couldn’t fix, and the waterfall down the stairs had looked kind of pretty.

After that Ed wasn’t allowed to go near a book when running a bath. He didn’t question that one, that one he understood.

As it turned out he needn’t have worried. He ended up giving Roy a gift without realising he’d even done it. And it was a gift Roy couldn’t have been happier with.

They were sat together on the sofa reading, they often ended up like that on a night when they weren’t arguing or having sex. Roy shifted, sighed, stretched his shoulders, and grimaced. He looked like he was in pain and considering the hours he’d been putting in at work Ed wasn’t surprised. Leaning over a desk all day was not as easy as people thought it was, it could be really hard on the shoulders.

Putting down his book, Ed moved to kneel on the sofa facing Roy. He gently grabbed the older man’s shoulders and turned him so that he was facing away from Ed. Nothing was said, Roy just complied and shifted into the new position so that Ed could move in behind him.

Once Roy was where Ed wanted him the massage began. The first time Ed had done this he’d miscalculated on the pressure of his automail hand and had almost cracked Roy’s collar bone. Now he had it down to a fine art and he worked Roy over until the other man was almost melting under his ministrations.

‘Ed, that feels amazing, exactly what I needed.’

‘I should charge you for this you know. My massages are very sought after. You only get them free because I love you.’ Ed felt Roy’s body tense up again before a hand covered his flesh one and he had to stop what he was doing.

‘Thank you Ed.’ Ed didn’t understand why Roy had said those words with so much emotion. He’d given him loads of massages and he’d never said thank you like that before. And then he thought about what he’d said. Then he stopped moving. Then he stopped breathing. He just stopped.

He’d told Roy he loved him.

He hadn’t said it before. Not like that. He’d said it with his actions, he’d shown him that he loved him and he wasn’t talking just about the sex either. He’d never said the actual words. Until now. Was it that simple? Was that all he’d needed to do?

Yes. Roy’s true gift to him hadn’t been the book or the tickets, it was his love. Ed’s gift to Roy should be equal to that. Equivalent exchange.

‘I love you, Roy. I really love you.’

Roy turned to face Ed, a smile broader than any Ed had ever seen the man wear covered his face. Roy kissed him fast, it was sweet and filled with love.

‘I love you too, Ed. I love you too.’

Comments

[baroqueangel.livejournal.com]

The fluff would not go away, it was determined that everyone was going to die of fluff :P

Rationalising things away is so Ed (and me but we'll just shush about that >.>). Glad you liked it <3333